International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust: Spreading Education and Awareness An interaction with students on Holocaust

 DATE: Friday, 29 January 2021

 THEME: Facing the Aftermath: Recovery and Reconstitution after the Holocaust

Holocaust is the destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war .In the context of Germany the Holocaust was a turning point in history, which prompted the world to say "never again". Millions of Jews, Roma, Sinti and other groups opposed to the Reich, were persecuted, destroying lives, livelihoods, businesses, families and societies.

The webinar that was organized on 29th January 2021 was on the occasion of International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust and Spreading Education and Awareness about it amongst the students.  There were around 400 students in all, who attended this fabulous webinar. There were 11 students from each school including ours who attended it. Senior teacher, Ms Maitreyee was a part of this webinar with our students of classes 9 and 11. The aim of the webinar was to mobilize students  for Holocaust remembrance in order to help prevent future acts of genocide.

The introduction was given by Mr. Rajiv Chandran, moderator and Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Information Centre. The welcome address was given by by Mr. Stephane Amalir, Director, Alliance Francaise de Delhi and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres’s video message was also screened. In his speech the Secretary General spoke about the disturbing spread of neo-Nazism and other extremist groups and the growing climate of intolerance and antisemitism  He urged everyone to stand up for human Rights  ' 

Through this educational webinar, about the Holocaust, the Programme calls on all generations to use their voice to stand up 

for human rights, challenge discrimination, antisemitism and racism, and defend essential democratic values in their communities , which are very essential in today's time . 

The highlight of the webinar was the Introduction to the Anne Frank’s video diary by, Ms. Ilona Domanska, Second Secretary, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands. They screened two episodes for us, behind which the main idea was that , 'What if Anne Frank had a video camera instead of a diary ? ' 

In the end there was a Question and Answer session with representatives from the UN and collaborating diplomatic missions